In the following discussion, certain drumming and percussion systems will be described for background and introductory purposes. Nothing contained herein is to be construed as an “admission” of prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate, where appropriate, that the articles and methods referenced herein do not constitute prior art under the applicable statutory provisions.
Acoustic drums include at least one membrane, called a drum head or drum skin, which is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drum stick, for example, to produce sound. Electronic drums are intended to mimic the playability and feel of acoustic drums, and are connected to a sound generator and an amplifier in order to produce the sound of the drum. Thus, an advantage of the electronic drums over acoustic drums is that the volume of the electronic drums can more easily be controlled and adjusted (e.g., by turning up or down the volume of the amplifier and/or by utilizing headphones).
Electronic drums utilizing various drum heads, and sensors systems are known in the art. These drums generally include a shell (manufactured from various materials) supporting a drumhead using a drum hoop. The hoop allows for proper tensioning of the head. Known systems also include a sensor system that contacts the head to allow the vibrations from the drum head being stuck to transmit that energy to the sensor. The sensor is operable to convert the vibrational energy into an electrical signal, which is used to produce a sound when the electrical drum is impacted.
Performance issues arise with current electronic drums. For example, drum head response is not ideal with electronic drums (as compared to acoustic drums). With current electronic drum head technology, the head response is different than with real acoustic drums, which can cause a misleading performance as the drummer attempts to compensate for the problems with the heads. For example, electronic drums may utilize a rubber based surface material or a single or two ply drumhead mesh material. These materials, however, when struck, may cause the drumstick to bounce off the head in an un-natural fashion and/or may cause an undesirable spring effect.
When rubber is used as a head material, this material may cause a drum stick to become “stuck.” (e.g., momentarily). For example, rubber will form a notch in the surface when struck by a drum stick, which causes a temporary “capture” of the stick, which may cause the drummer to pull away from the surface in an un-natural way. Drummers typically rely on stick bounce that induced from the cantilever effect of striking with a stick. Because of this un-natural playing, fatigue quite often is experienced when playing on rubber surface.
An additional drawback of playing on a rubber surface results when an angled attack is used, wherein the angle of incident from where the pad is struck in relation to where the initial stroke occurs does not naturally relate to the exit of the stick. Since the tip of the drumstick is “captured,” if the drum is played from an angled attack that is not straight up and down, the drummer must wait for the stick to release from the same angle of attack then force back to the ended exit attack. This compensation causes the drummer an un-natural performance with added fatigue.
Additionally, although they may be quieter in play than rubber heads, there are drawbacks and issues with an electronic drum utilizing mesh heads. Typically, the mesh head is produced in either single or dual ply heads, the dual head design calls for the same material for both plies. With this approach, the head produces too much bounce, which may be counter-intuitive to how a drummer plays an acoustic head. For example, when a stroke is played on a mesh head, the stick will rebound at a rate that may be too fast, once again leaving the drummer to compensate and adjust his normal way of playing.
For example, it has been reported by drummers that playing on these surfaces causes fatigue to the drummer. This fatigue is produced from at least one of two sources: (1) in the case of rubber, when the drum head is struck with the stick, a pocket is formed in the rubber causing the stick to be caught in the “pocket”, thus causing a slower response, and may return the stroke at an unnatural angle, thus causing the drummer to overplay the stroke; and (2) with a mesh-based head, when the drum head is struck with the stick, the drum head may cause too much spring return from the initial stroke, thus causing an un-natural strain on the drummers wrist and forearm.
Typically acoustic drums are tuned at different tensions. For example, a bass drum and floor torn may typically be tuned lower to produce a lower tone, which places the drumhead at a lower tension. In contrast, the snare drum and higher toms may typically be tuned higher with a tighter tension. With mesh heads, however, is may be more difficult to properly tune a drum requiring a tension other than a high tension (e.g., a bass drum that utilizes a lower tension to produce bass tones). This limitation forces the drummer to play every drum using a two-layer mesh head as it was a snare drum (very tight), which again causes an un-natural performance and may cause a drummer compensate, affecting the performance and playing style.
There are additional drawbacks with drum tonality on electronic drums. Acoustic drums will react in both feel and sonically differently depending on where on the drumhead is struck. For example, striking the middle (or center) of the drum head may produce different tones than striking the edge of the drum head. The drummer's performance expression relies greatly on where the drum is struck. Current electronic drum designs, however, do not address these regions of different tone accurately. Typically, electronic drums utilize a single Piezo ceramic material (sensor) for picking up vibrations across the head. By utilizing a single Piezo sensor, however, only one sound may be produced by the electronic drum no matter where the drum head is struck. This deficiency of electronic drums results in an un-natural performance. Due to these drawbacks and issues encountered with current electronic drums, these drums are looked upon as a necessity (e.g., for quiet play), and are not sought out for a desired playing experience.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved electronic drum that more accurately mimics the playability, feel and sound of an acoustic drum.